California is about to enact a law that will ban any form of speech or written material that is critical of same-sex sexuality.

The bill in question is California Assembly Bill 2943. It would treat as a criminal violation of the state’s consumer fraud act “the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” that consists of “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.” Don’t be misled into thinking that this bill bans only professional counselors from trying to alter same-sex attractions. It goes well beyond that.

The new law would outlaw anything that states that same-sex sexuality is not innate. It would deny anyone from saying or counseling that people choose their sexual actions. This would include counseling someone who wants to leave the same-sex lifestyle or offering them literature to that effect.

Is this an exaggeration? Not according to what the bill proposes:

“‘Sexual orientation change efforts’ means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

The bill in its present form is draconian enough. Wait until the courts get their hands on it and start extrapolating on all the implications of such prohibitions. Dr. Gagnon offers a peek into the future of what such a law would mean:

To sell any materials or offer any counseling for a fee that present homosexual practice and transgender identity as wrong or a sin, including all commentaries on the Bible and theological or exegetical treatments that affirm the biblical position on these matters (perhaps even the Bible itself) is to incur criminal sanctions in the state of California.

Consider Rosaria Champagne Butterfield who “was a tenured English professor at Syracuse University, a skeptic of all things Christianity, and in a committed lesbian relationship. Her academic specialty was Queer Theory, a postmodern form of gay and lesbian studies. Today Butterfield is a mother of four, a homemaker, and wife of a Presbyterian pastor named Kent. They live in Durham, North Carolina.”